1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to dynamic menu updating, and more precisely, to methods and devices for promptly updating man-machine interface (MMI) configuration of a menu in response to available services supported by the currently associated network.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the convenience of portable devices, such as mobile phones, smart phones, and PDAs, user can easily carry a portable device when traveling. In addition to basic telecommunication services (such as call setup service), a network provider may provide additional features or services, such as GSM supplementary service (SS) which modifies or supplements a basic telecommunication service, for user selection. These services, however, are selectively provided by different network providers. For example, a call transfer or a call deflect service may be supported by network provider A while not being supported by network provider B. When the portable devices roam from an area governed by network provider A to an area governed by network provider B, the call transfer service is unavailable.
Currently, portable devices show all supported features on its menu. If a service that is not supported by a network provider currently associated and has been chosen from the menu by a user, portable devices may receive error messages or recognize no response from the associated network after issuing one or more requests for the service, resulting in unnecessary consumption of network bandwidth. Moreover, the user may spend unnecessary waiting time before realizing that the chosen service is unavailable, dramatically reducing user satisfaction. It is to be understood that the similar situations are also happened in an environment of wireless networks providing various additional communication methods.
It is therefore desired to provide methods and devices for dynamically updating the MMI configuration of the menu to avoid unnecessary consumption of network bandwidth and increase user satisfaction.